The Canadian international development sector has undergone many shifts and influences over the past 40 years. In the 1970's and 80's, robust international development education programmes provided youth and adults across Canada with opportunities to understand issues of global inequity and solidarity.

In this backdrop, VIDEA was born in 1978 - making it the first global education centre on Vancouver Island and one of the first in Canada! In those early days, VIDEA delivered over 100 school presentations each year, in order to promote greater intercultural understanding and awareness of global issues. Come the mid 90's, major budget cuts at the federal and provincial levels led to an erosion of the infrastructure that enabled development education centres to engage Canadians on these critical issues. As a result, most of the centres closed down.

Despite immense challenges, the international activist community of Victoria refused to give up. VIDEA found creative ways to keep going and we are now able to celebrate 40 years of solidarity-based contributions to a more just and equitable world.

We've grown a lot in the last 40 years - join us in celebrating this major milestone!